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Iraq Says 4 Injured in US, British Air Raids
Four Iraqi civilians were injured Tuesday in the US and British air raids in southern Iraq, an Iraqi military spokesman announced.
In a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA), the spokesman said that at 17:00 (1300 GMT), the US and British fighter jets made armed sorties over the southern provinces of Muthana, Basra, Thi-Qar and Qadissiyah.
"The enemy planes bombed civilian and service installations in the Muthana Province and led to the injury of civilians," the spokesman was quoted as saying.
Moreover, the US and British planes also carried out raids on northern provinces of Dohuk, Neiveva and Erbil, the spokesman said.
On both occasions, Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery opened fire at the hostile planes and forced them to flee to their bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the spokesman added.
The US has confirmed Tuesday's attacks, claiming that the raids were in response to recent Iraqi "hostile threats" against US and British aircraft monitoring the two no-fly zones.
The air exclusion zones were set up by the US-led Western allies after the 1991 Gulf War with the claimed aim of protecting the Kurds in the north and Shiite Muslims in the south from the persecution of the Iraqi government.
Iraq does not recognize the zones and has regularly fired at US and British aircraft patrolling them.
The US and British planes have intensified air raids on the two no-fly zones recently, in apparent retaliation against Iraq's claim that it shot down an unmanned US reconnaissance plane on August 27.
The US acknowledged that this was the first US plane that has been lost over the two no-fly zones since the Gulf War.
Iraq has announced it would beef up its anti-aircraft defense to bring down allied planes enforcing the two no-fly zones.
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